We have peaches in January and apples through July, spring lamb for Christmas dinner and new peas for Thanksgiving. But it seems no matter how hard we try, some products won`t budge from their traditional season. Without fail there`s Silver Queen corn every August, pumpkin pie each November and after New Year`s the rush of Girl Scouts filling our cupboards and waistline in a deluge of cookies.
Unlike any other sweet, Girl Scout Cookies possess the rare ability to assuage the guilt of gluttony with a redemptive dose of Scout support. You can`t buy too many because every one casts a vote for the future. And you can`t eat too many because you know full well that the next day and every day thereafter there will be yet another green-frocked tyke petitioning for your patriotism.
What is there to do but to throw another Thin Mint down the gullet?
In an effort to help you through this onslaught, we have come up with some decadent desserts that dare to gild the Girl Scout Cookie lily in ways not yet imagined. Bypassing the obvious, we have not included such perennial favorites as dunking Trefoils in milk or peppering a sundae with chopped Thin Mints. Rather, we have created an extravagance of Girl Scout gastronomy.
There`s a white chocolate cheesecake punctuated with gobs of molten Samoa, a peanut Tagalong pie in a peanut-butter Do-Si-Dos crust that makes plain pecan pie seem downright staid and a double-thick cherry-filled sandwich cookie cloaked in a sheath of semisweet chocolate. There`s a trifle made from Trefoils, spiked with raspberries, bananas, brandy and orange-scented cream.
Though none of these will stem the tide of Girl Scouts at your door, each is guaranteed to make the last box of this year`s investment as welcome as was the first.
TAGALONG PEANUT PIE WITH A DO-SI-DOS CRUST
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Cooling time: 1 hour
Yield: 12 servings
1 box (9 ounces) Do-Si-Dos Girl Scout Cookies, broken up
4 tablespoons peanut butter
Filling:
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 box (7 ounces) Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies, coarsely chopped
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grind Do-Si-Dos finely in food processor. Add peanut butter and continue to grind until all the cookie crumbs are moistened with peanut butter. (Or put cookies into large plastic food bag and crush to a powder with a rolling pin. Transfer to a large bowl and work in peanut butter with a spoon.)
2. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate, forming a thicker rim near the edge. Bake for 6 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
3. Meanwhile, for filling, mix brown sugar, corn syrup, flour, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl just until blended. Stir in chopped Tagalongs and peanuts.
4. Pour into baked pie shell. Bake until top is browned but still gooey in center, about 45 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before serving.
SAMOA WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours
Chilling time: 10 hours
Yield: 16 servings
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup cookie crumbs from graham crackers, Trefoils Girl Scout Cookies or another plain cookie
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons dark rum, optional
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 box (7 1/2 ounces) Samoa Girl Scout Cookies, chopped
6 ounces white chocolate, finely grated
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-inch springform pan liberally with butter and dust well with mixture of the cookie crumbs and coconut. Set aside. 2. Beat cream cheese and sugar on low speed in large mixer bowl, until very smooth. Beat in rum if using, vanilla and eggs; beat until completely smooth, scraping the bowl as necessary.
3. Stir in the cookies and white chocolate. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake until browned, slightly cracked and a tester inserted in the center comes out with just a bit of batter clinging to it, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.
4. Turn off oven and crack it open. Allow cheesecake to cool this way for an hour. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature on wire rack.
5. To remove cheesecake from pan, run a knife around perimeter, carefully remove side of pan. Refrigerate at least 10 hours before slicing. Slice with a long, sharp knife dipped into hot water before making each cut.
TREFOIL TRIFLE
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Chilling time: Up to 6 hours
Yield: 10 servings
3 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur, optional
1 tablespoon brandy, optional
4 cups pastry cream or French vanilla pudding
1 box (10 ounces) Trefoils Girl Scout Cookies
1 bag (10 ounces) frozen raspberries, thawed
2 large bananas, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon confectioners` sugar
1. Mix the orange liqueur and brandy into the pastry cream or pudding in large bowl. Set aside.
2. Coarsely break 9 cookies and scatter them into a layer in the bottom of a large glass serving bowl or trifle dish. Cover with 1 cup of the pudding mixture in an even layer. Break up 10 or more cookies and scatter half of them over top of the cream. Scatter 3 ounces of the raspberries over the cookies and arrange 1/4 of the banana slices in an even layer. Top with the remaining broken cookies and another cup of pudding.
3. Make another layer of fruit and cookies using 10 more cookies, 3 more ounces of raspberries and another 1/2 banana. Top with another layer of pudding and another layer of fruit and cookies arranged the same way. Finish with the remaining pudding.
4. To decorate, whip the cream to soft peaks with the confectioners`
sugar. Place the last 6 cookies equidistant in a circle over the top. Pipe swirls of whipped cream between each cookie and in a large center of the large swirl of whipped cream. Refrigerate up to 6 hours before serving.
Note: You may substitute 2 tablespoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon orange extract for the liqueur and the brandy if you wish.
CHOCOLATE-DIPPED CHERRY-FILLED
Cabana Cremes confections
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Freezing time: 1 hour
Yield: 8 servings
16 Cabana Cremes Girl Scout cookies
8 teaspoons cherry preserves
7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1. Carefully separate one side from each sandwich cookie and reserve for another purpose. You will have 16 cream-covered cookies remaining.
2. Place a teaspoon of cherry preserves on eight cookies and cover with remaining cookies. Place on a plate and freeze for at least 1 hour.
3. Dip frozen cookies, one at a time, in melted chocolate. Turn with a small fork until completely coated, lift with fork and carefully transfer to a sheet of wax paper set over a cooling rack. Repeat until all cookies have been chocolate-coated. Cool for several hours until the chocolate is solid. Peel from wax paper and serve.
